No Place Like London: Part III
On our third day, we woke up early and walked to Paddington Station, about 10 minutes away. There, we grabbed coffee and met up with our second "London Walks" tour group, which would tour Oxford and the Cotswolds.
What exactly is a "cotswold" you ask? The Cotswolds are known for acres of gentle hillsides ('wolds'), sleepy villages and for being so 'typically English' (I stole this definition). There are famous cities such as Bath, well-known beautiful towns like Cheltenham and hundreds of charming villages, two of which we visited (one to explore, one for lunch and shopping). The cotswolds were also huge sheep-herding areas in the 13th through 15th centuries. Oxford, well, everyone knows Oxford. It is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, built in the 11th century and now containing 39 schools/colleges. S studied there for a semester and was delighted to return.
We all hopped on a bus and drove to a little village to explore...
The sprawling English countryside, complete with hedgerows
The Thames river begins here and is called the Isis
Pretty bar we passed
At the village we saw houses with thatched roofs, beautiful gardens, and chickens
The village was called Minster Lovell and also held the ruins of a 15th century grand manor house.
I love what you've done with the windows!
AGH!!
Nice, peaceful place to live if you're a donkey
Next we stopped at Burford village to eat and shop and mail some postcards :) I got the best grilled cheese sandwich ever, as well as sweets...you'll see in the foodie post.
We then hopped back on the bus to get to Oxford University.
One of the dorms (how jealous am I of this grass...)
After exploring a couple of the schools and the library, we broke away from the rest of the group at the shopping area. S wanted to stay longer so we had bought our own train tickets back.
See that brick cross in the ground? 3 Protestant martyrs were burned at the stake there during the reign of (Bloody) Mary I, including Thomas Cranmer who made a case for Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon. And then behind it you have S's favorite bra store- score!
We got a drink at the Turf Tavern: An Education in Intoxication, which is an open-air bar situated between the Oxford city walls.
Just studying...
We boarded a train back to the city of London and then hopped on the Tube to go to Picadilly Circus, an area very much like Times Square. "Picadilly" is apparently Latin for "circle" because many streets intersect at this place.
Commonly known for the video displays and statue of Eros...
...as well as the casinos and dancing girls (see 'em up there?)
We got dinner at a Moroccan restaurant (yes, I actually found something to eat there), walked around some more, and then headed back to the hotel with our feet on fire.